Despite Shutdown, Bulldogs to Race at Navy

Kosir hiking in her laser radial at the New England Women's Singlehanded Championship.

Oct 10, 2013

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The No. 1 Yale women's sailing team will send five sailors to the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., this weekend for the Navy Fall Women's Regatta. The event will take place in spite of the government shutdown which has caused the academy to cancel or postpone many other activities, including 20 percent of classes.

In an interview with Scuttlebutt Sailing News, the head coach of the Navy sailing team reported that "since our coaches are contractors and not government employees, we are still able to work and conduct practices for our teams."

This apparently means that they are also still able to use their boats and facilities for competition because the Yale coaching staff received an email earlier this week confirming that this weekend's regatta will go on.

The Navy Fall Women's Regatta is the biggest intersectional of the fall season. Eighteen teams will compete in three divisions, each division sailing a different type of boat. A division will start in FJs on Saturday while B division starts in 420s and then the two will switch halfway through the event. C division will race laser radials for the whole regatta.

Junior skipper Morgan Kiss and senior crew Amanda Salvesen will represent the Bulldogs in A division. They will be looking to repeat their performance of two weeks ago when they won A division at the Regis Bowl.

Senior captain Marlena Fauer and senior crew Eugenia Custo Greig will represent the Bulldogs in B division. This duo also won their division at the last women's regatta that they competed in.

In C division, the Bulldogs will be relying on junior Urska Kosir, who proved her laser radial expertise last weekend when she qualified for the ICSA Women's Singlehanded Nationals.

Weather forecasts are calling for a wet and windy weekend in Annapolis. The Yale sailors will need to pack their foul weather gear in preparation for rain and winds around 15 miles per hour from the northeast.